


Broken Heart Syndrome

by XK-Scenario (Torva_Insanus)



Category: American Horror Story: Murder House
Genre: Angst, F/M, warning: death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 16:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11855742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torva_Insanus/pseuds/XK-Scenario
Summary: Life wasn't great, but it usually isn't. But how could it possibly get any worse?You end up coming to that conclusion the hard way.





	Broken Heart Syndrome

Things have never been right for you, have they? An orphan going to a place where no one knew you, didn't seem to care about you, and vice versa.

But it did seem to change... just a smidge, just enough to give you some hope for something better. Unbeknownst to you, this would be the silver lining to your demise.

You met him at school, the place that made the orphanage feel like heaven. It started out as nothing more then a perpetual haze of mental fogginess on your part. Just going where you needed to be, when you needed to be there, and disregarding all others. In the hallway, beside your locker... you became the target of halfassed abuse once more.

"Y/N. There you are, I was starting to think you wouldn't show. Got my money?" A familiar smug tone roused you back from your semi-conscious state. "Oh come on Y/N, I know you can hear me, unless you've decided to go mute  **and** deaf."

 _'Nothing more than a pest come to bother me again.'_ You rolled your eyes at the incoming migraine that was fast approaching. You were a girl of very few words, unwilling to share your precious time with the moronic.

"I'm busy placing my mind far from this hellhole. Go play on the 405, and leave me be." You spat halfheartedly at the pathetic excuse for a school bully.

Next to you, in front of the locker next to yours, a blond grunge looking kid was chuckling to himself in amusement.

"You! You think this is some kinda joke or somethin'?" The would-be bully tried looking intimidating, but it was laughably bad, making you break into a giggle.

The blond looked to you first before uttering "Yeah, actually it is. Do you really think anyone would be scared of your scrawny little ass? Come back when you've graduated harassment 101." The blond shut his locker, and both of you watched as the annoyance took their leave. Obviously 2 against 1 isn't fair.

"Who the fuck do they think they are?" he asked, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"Obviously someone who doesn't know their place on the food chain." you looked at him with a genuine smile. "Thanks for getting rid of that pest. I was afraid i'd have to waste an aspirin." you laughed heartily.

"You're welcome. It was kind of funny seeing them try to get your attention though. I'm Tate." he smiled, and it wasn't the type of bright grin you'd expect from a darkly dressed person like him, but it was admittingly handsome.

"I'm Y/N. I've noticed you before, but I don't think we've ever met, right?" you said, looking towards the locker next to yours.

"You'd be right. I usually don't strike up conversations with people." Tate sneered at the rest of the students going about their business.

You noticed the cold glare he'd sent to the rest of the hall, but chalked it down to asocial behavior. "Yeah, this is a first for me as well. People bother me."

You looked to the rest of them, but no one really stood out. Looking to Tate, however, was odd because he did stand out. A lot in fact. It could be that you're paying attention for once, so you're only now noticing him as one specific face in the crowd. Whatever the case, it was strange how he broke you out of your self-induced trance with relative ease.

"Is that so? We have something in common then. Other teenagers are a pain in the ass, but you seem cool." he held his hands up in defense.

"Ha! You seem alright too. It may be hell here, but at least I met someone who isn't a total jackass." you looked to him with approval, something fairly rare for you.

"I'm more of a partial jackass." Tate remarked, causing you to giggle profusely.

He was easy to mentally keep tabs on. His voice was rather simple to remember, which made it easy to figure out when he was talking in the hall. Like the fact you'd heard everything he said, and didn't phase the rest out. Usually you did this out of sheer cognitive dissonance, other times it was just boredom of hearing the other person speak. It wasn't that you were rude, although you used the air of standoffish-ness to keep others at a distance, it was your train of thought trying to find stimulation somewhere else. This didn't seem to happen when in conversation with Tate. Regardless of what he said, it got through the static.

_'This could be the start of something nice.'_

\-----

It's been a while since your meeting with Tate, and you must say, it is nice having someone watching out for you. Tate was a good friend, and both of you picked up on each other's mannerisms effortlessly. When he was distraught, you knew how to pick him back up. When you were lost in the haze of thought, Tate dragged you back down to earth. It was a mutually beneficial unspoken arrangement. And when other students tried to bug you, Tate was always around to defend you, even if you didn't ask him to. You both became two halves of the same whole, completing what used to feel so broken, and hollow. You found sanctuary with him. A saddening part of your friendship came from how you started truly depending on each other for the things you both lacked.

You were adopted by a new family, but made it obvious that you were a rebellious spirit that didn't take to others. This lead to a massive falling out with that family ending with Tate helping you out. He took you in when you didn't have any other options, much to his mother's chargin. It's not that Constance hated you, it's that she thought you might try taking advantage of her kindness. (That hypocrite...) Even if she didn't want you in her house, you always found a way in through Tate, Addy and Larry when he left the doors unlocked. Tate made it a point to have all of your most valuable possessions in his room, for safekeeping. Soon, Constance let you stay with them so it didn't have to be such a surprise when she found you. Tate was finally able to give you some semblance of stability.

In turn, you were Tate's morale support. His confidant. Anything that really bugged him, he'd tell you. You were the only one he could tell. The part Tate found most astounding was how no matter what, you never made judgments on him. He was already fucked up enough as it is, what would judging him do? Nothing good.

What really wasn't good? How isolated you and Tate became. You spent your vast majority of time together, away from Tate's abusive mother, and your classmates. Avoidance became more instinctual than premeditated. Eventually, talking became something you and Tate only did when you were around each other, and people started noticing how absolutely livid you got around others. It raised some alarm bells to those who picked on you before. You weren't just annoyed by their presence like you used to be, your scowl was proof enough. It was like you wanted to see them suffer. You did, and this wasn't lost on Tate, he wanted it just as bad... probably more so.

The down side of your relationship was how you rose each others' ire up, encouraging the scorn you both felt at being alienated. It was rather unfortunate, for as happy as Tate made you, he brought out the worst in you. You weren't nearly as bad as him though... the lesser of two evils. He'd never let you know that, though.

But one day something happened that shook Tate to his core. When he learned his brother, Beau... was killed by Larry, at Constance's request. Knowing that... did something to Tate, and it terrified you, though you'd never showed it.

Tate could downplay his vehement rage in front of everyone else at the dinner table, feigning the expression of the accepting son, but you weren't blind. You knew this was a front, but you played your part well, despite showing Tate you knew what he was thinking. In a way, he was thankful for your cooperation, for keeping his wrath a secret. But when he wanted to say grace... oh boy, you almost gave it away with your anxiousness as you sat between him and Larry.

"Dear God, thank you for this salty pig meat we are about to eat, along with the rest of the indigestible swill..." You could sense the bitterness there. "...and thank you for this new charade of a family I've gotten my friend involved in. I wish I could've provided better for Y/N in her time of need, but this is the best I could do for her." You could feel Tate's hand lightly squeeze yours, letting you know he meant that part. "My father ran away when I was only six. If I'd known any better, I would have joined him." ***SLAP*** The sound of Constance slapping Tate's hand startled you for half a second. "And also because she's been trying to get back into this house ever since she's lost it. Lord, a big thank you for blinding the asshole that's doing my mother, so that he can't see what everybody knows... she doesn't really love him."

"Amen." Addy said, exchanging a smile with her older brother.

"...Amen." you sighed, with your head tilted downwards. That was actually tamer than you expected from Tate. You were expecting him to get seriously hostile for a second there.

Instead you decided to innocuously make your way out of the dining room from that point on, before it got worse. You were still listening, but from a safe distance in the kitchen. But something 'Lawrence' said after Tate called him out on the suicide that took place before they moved back into the house really managed to upset you.  _"It was nobody's fault. Passion drove her to it. One day you'll understand, there are sacrifices you have to make in the name of love."_ That piece of grade A bullshit... It was like you could feel Tate's inner outrage bubbling up as it was transparently pouring onto his blank facial expression.

Larry changed the subject, and not long after did Tate's true anger let itself be known... So you made your presence known from the doorway.

_**"DON'T ADDY!!!** _ _**You're a smart girl, you know he killed our brother!-"** _

_"STOP IT!_ Beau died in his slumber of natural causes. Now you know he had a respiratory ailment... Your brother's in a better place! He suffered with every breath that he took!" Constance was still trying to play it off? She wasn't doing a good job of convincing Tate. He knew, and you did as well.

"He only suffered because of you." Tate was on the verge of tears, recalling the horrible treatment Beau was placed in.

You may have been behind Constance, but you could tell that she was getting tearful too by her following speech. "Ha... You know Tate, unlike your siblings, you were graced with so many gifts.  _How is it_ that you can't bring yourself to use them?" For a second Tate looked past his mother to see you. "Just a smile, or a kind word could open the gates to heaven."

At this, you glared at Constance's back, cause if anything, all of that was only reserved for you. You were the one who got his genuine smiles, to hear his honest sweet words. You and you alone. It was saved for the only person he'd ever actually welcomed into his life, not the strangers he was forced to live with. Constance was treading dangerous water. Tate met your predatory glare directed at his mother with a secretly proud gaze before turning his attention back to his mother...

"No matter how much you want it, I will never... be your perfect son." Tate left the table shortly thereafter.

\-----

The following morning you woke up to your alarm feeling so rested, but something was amiss. What time was it? Peering at your clock it said it was 6:00, but that obviously wasn't the case. The sun's position in the sky suggested it was 9:00 am at the latest.  _'What the hell? Someone must've screwed around with my clock. Wouldn't be surprised if it's one of those entities.'_ You opted to get dressed, and head to school. 

 _'Better late than never. Where's Tate by the way? I didn't even check to see if he was there. Well, if he is still sleeping, i'm sure he wouldn't mind the day off. If he was the one who changed my clock, and left for school, he's getting nagged to death by me today.'_ As you walked down the street, a thought crossed your mind.  _'If he did change my clock, what would the reason be?'_

Being fast at getting ready, you arrived in all black, at school by 9:35, but there was no sign of Tate anywhere. His locker doesn't even look like it's been touched.

"Hey Y/N, where's your boyfriend? Not here to protect you today?" An ugly punk with bad fashion sense tried cornering you, but you weren't having it today.

"One, not my boyfriend, and two, I'm not sure where he is." An exasperated expression erupted onto your face, taking over from the blank one that was scanning the halls fervently for the blond. "Now _**MOVE!"**_ you screeched, gaining the attention of bystanders as you shove the idiot away, still searching for any signs of your companion, but everyone else kind of blends into the scenery...

At this point, you were starting to get a little desperate, so you decided to call Constance who was still at home. "Um, Constance... it's Y/N, is Tate still in bed? I haven't seen him all day." While you hated to call him out, this was starting to worry you.

"He left for school already. Told me you left him behind." Constance drawled in false interest.

"Wait, when?" It couldn't have been this morning before you woke up, right?

"At about... 8:00 this morning." It was only then that I picked up on what I could only assume to be Constance's signature hangover tone. She may not have been drunk, but she was still far from being a reliable source of info at this time.

"Thanks anyway, gotta go."  _'Damn it, Tate... What kind of game for you playing? He set this up, didn't he?'_

\-----

By 10:30 you were done searching for him. If he didn't want you to find him, he simply wasn't going to be found. You decided to finally get to class, but that haziness was starting to distract you again. This time it centered around your missing friend. You simply couldn't focus, and this was precisely the reason you **needed** to find Tate to begin with.

Maybe if you waited for him back at the house... Sure, it might be bad to leave school altogether, but you really couldn't function like this. For all you know, Tate probably isn't even here at school to begin with.

As you were trying to keep tears from falling down your face, that haze reared itself into your head again, turning your senses numb for several seconds.

A loud abrupt noise pierced the veil... a gun shot.

It was enough to pull you back to reality with every other panicked student. But unlike the others, you didn't immediately run for the doors. You followed the noise in a roundabout way. Traversing the corridors, and helping other students to the exits. Luckily, you were the epitome of quiet, managing to avoid the gunman at every turn.

It was like a twisted, reversed game of Marco Polo. Every time you heard a shot get closer, you'd bolt in the another direction, find a connecting corridor, and follow them from there.

You counted every dead student you've come across so far. _'Ten, and the next one could be me.'_

You heard the loud, aggressive jiggling of a door handle that hasn't opening. People are held up in the library it seems. Not ideal.

The loud blast of a shotgun broke through the quietness again, followed by the light creaking of a now opened door.

The coast was clear, you could've left, but a morbid curiosity was piqued, and if it could ensure a good description to follow, an even better reason for following the logic that might just get you killed.

You entered the library as stealthily as possible, for there was no room for error this time around. You haven't seen the gunman yet, but you heard a whistle, something to identify where he is. You hid in a cupboard just big enough for you to fit. Using the dark coloration of your clothes to hide from the gunman, you peeked out to see the others struggling to get out of the situation. If you tried helping them, it would surely end in your death. They really weren't being sneaky enough, and they'd get caught for sure. Sad, but accurate. These people are simply waiting to die at this point, and helping them... wasn't an option.

From the handiwork you've seen so far, this guy doesn't really look for stragglers, he just kills whoever he sees, and moves on to the next area. Panic really set in with these guys... the gunman probably knows where everyone else is. You counted as the students went down, one by one, regretting the fact that you chose to be there, at that time, at that place, with these doomed people.

You snuck your way back to the door you entered though. When the last student was about to be shot, you looked back, and couldn't believe your eyes.

***BANG***

_"....Tate?"_ You were near the door, but common sense left you as you addressed him with broken faith, and crumbling sanity. But before he could react... you ran.

\-----

 _'No, no, no, no, no, no.'_ Was the only thing you could think as you rounded a bloody corridor, thinking of where you could go now. You heard Tate's desperate screams from somewhere far behind you as you sped out of the school, and back to the house. Tate was fast, but you were faster.

When you got back, you used the back door which, thankfully, was open. Going upstairs as fast, and as quietly as possible wasn't easy, and instead of hiding in your room, which was probably the first place he'd look, you hid in his room, under his bed. With a hope that he wouldn't look there, you waited, and it didn't take long. The distinctive sound of a door slamming down the hall brought the momentary calm to a standstill.

Then the booming sound of a door opening twisted your heart. He paced in front of your field of view several times before sitting on his bed. "Y/N wasn't supposed to see that, **SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW!!!"** he shout, letting out loud sobs. "I'M SORRY Y/N... I'm so sorry!"

 _'Forgiving you would be morally wrong... but it's not my place to say. If you're really sorry... say it to them!'_ you mentally cried out, wishing you could muster the courage to say it to him directly.

You wanted to say something, anything to get him to stop crying, but you didn't move an inch, or make a sound. Eventually, he stopped crying on his own. His breathing evened out, and he started talking again.

"I never wanted to let you down, but I did anyway. I love you Y/N, and I hope you'll be fine without me." he solemnly mourned the inevitable.

 _'Love?... Love?! **WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO COME OUT NOW?! WHY,** Why didn't... he ever tell me.'_ The tears started flowing freely from your eyes, and you managed to whimper out "I love you too, Tate."

"Huh?!" He was about to check under the bed, but something distracted him before he could.

Sirens sounded from outside.  _'So soon? Oh god, what's going to happen to him?!'_  

You could hear Constance yelling in the distance, begging whoever it was to let her speak to Tate, but in this state, it probably would've ended badly. Tate was in a fragile state of mind.

A S.W.A.T. team was at his bedroom door in moments, and you backed up as far as you could go.

Tate was certain he knew where you were now, so he let go of his misgivings.... consigning to his fate.

It happened so slow. But he did something to cause the cops to shoot him down.

And when the officer asked him why, Tate looked under the bed, where your glossy eyes met his once more. And with his dying breath, he whimpered inaudibly, but it sounded like... Y/N.

\-----

The following days were hell.

Debates flew around that you and Tate were plotting this together, but others came to your defense, stating how you saved them from getting shot.

You were trapped in your head, struggling to maintain the illusion of mental clarity. With all the trauma of losing Tate, of seeing just how far gone he was, you began to malfunction as a human being. You relied on Tate to help you stay focused, but now... what was the point? You get bullied repeatedly with each passing day, your word is hardly jack shit to those around you, so maybe... this is how it ends now.

You weren't aware how right you could be though...

Your end happened when someone wanted revenge against Tate, but not in the ways you expected.

The grief and constant anguish melded with a heightened sense of paranoia, and when you were being chased back home by avenging students tired of seeing you around, your heart ceased proper function.

You died of _'Broken Heart Syndrome'_ , and you never made it back home... alive.

You wandered back to the Murder House as a free spirit, unconstrained by the tether the house holds over the others. You weren't even aware you died until you noticed just how much your heart  **doesn't** beat anymore. But it was a little confusing, seeing as how you could leave whenever you wanted when no one else could.

But you and Tate reconciled your complicated relationship, and you stayed in the house with the one the chose. You kinda want to 'thank' the assholes who aided in your death. Maybe on Halloween so you could have Tate by your side.

 


End file.
